Contamination
by Sievert Dinar
Summary: To maintain perfection you must become imperfect


CONTAMINATION by Sievert Dinar  
  
  
Disclaimer - Sailormoon is owned by a lot of people, most of whom  
are not me, so don't get all worked up about my using the characters  
in ways they weren't meant. I'm just a common or garden fanfic  
writer without a hope in this dark and cruel world. Maybe.  
  
  
  
The clock chimed one.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
The girl was brought in before her.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Struggling against the two guards.  
  
Frightened. Not sure of what was happening to her.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
They were always the same.  
  
Mars had seen them all.  
  
Agitators. Spies. Assassins. Butchers.  
  
Anarchists. Fanatics. Self-Proclaimed Messiahs.  
  
They always struggled. Struggled against the inevitable.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
This girl was quite young. She was surprised.  
  
Everything she had read about her...  
  
Everything she had heard...  
  
Had given Mars the impression of someone much older.  
  
At least this time, there WAS a difference.  
  
But she would treat her the same.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
They forced her into the seat, in the middle of the room.  
  
The bare room. Stark, gray and poorly lit.  
  
Psychological warfare, it was called.  
  
Make things as horrible as possible for them.  
  
They would soon break. Mars didn't give this one very long.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Mars fiddled with the lid of her pen.  
  
As she sat silently behind her desk.  
  
Not even looking at the frightened young woman.  
  
Not even acknowledging her presence.  
  
More psychological warfare. Distasteful, but necessary.  
  
She could hear the young woman's breathing.  
  
Even over the ticking of the clock.  
  
The old grandfather clock, sitting against the back wall.  
  
Directly behind Mars.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Like water torture, its remorseless ticking...  
  
Would drive prisoners insane.  
  
And sometimes...  
  
And sometimes their interrogators, too.  
  
She didn't like the job she had been given.  
  
But the Kingdom was in peril.  
  
The populace was becoming infected...  
  
Contaminated...  
  
With notions of free will.  
  
And it had to be stopped.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Stopped, in Serenity's name. The name of the person...  
  
She loved the most.  
  
And would do anything for.  
  
Even compromise the very beliefs...  
  
Upon which the Kingdom...  
  
And their friendship...  
  
Was based.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
"Ano..." The girl began, trying to get her attention.  
  
She ignored her, of course.  
  
Picked up her case notes from atop the desk.  
  
Started to read them.  
  
"Ano..." The girl said again, louder this time.  
  
"What is it that I am supposed to have done?"  
  
The poor fool, Mars thought to herself.  
  
She didn't know.  
  
They never seemed to know.  
  
But by reaching this far, their guilt was assured.  
  
She leveled the notes against the desk.  
  
Then, placing them down, she looked up at the girl.  
  
"Did you say something?" Mars asked, in almost a whisper.  
  
"I asked you..." The girl looked nervously from side to side.  
  
Her guards towering over her, frighteningly.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
"Yes?" Mars prompted. The girl turned back to her...  
  
With a start.  
  
"What is it... that I'm supposed... to have done?"  
  
The girl's voice cracked with fear.  
  
Mars sighed and looked down at her desk.  
  
"You have been identified as an agitator. Inciting people to  
riot, at a food distribution center."  
  
The girl shook her head.  
  
"I didn't. I mean, I wasn't one of those who..."  
  
"You have been identified, by one of the Palace Guards."  
  
"I was caught up in it all..."  
  
"They were keeping order at the center..."  
  
"I went there to get food for myself and my father..."  
  
"You went there to stir up trouble..."  
  
"He is sick. I'm his only child. I have to collect the food  
for him."  
  
"You were identified as part of a group..."  
  
"I was not part of any group..."  
  
"You were seen with five others..."  
  
"I don't know what you are talking about..."  
  
"You stormed into the building and started fighting with the  
monitors, giving out the food..."  
  
"I was waiting in line. I'd been waiting for three hours..."  
  
"Three people were killed in the riot that followed..."  
  
"The Guards saw me in line. They can prove I wasn't..."  
  
"You were identified by those Guards. Your guilt has been  
proven. You have been brought before me for judgement."  
  
"But I haven't done anything..."  
  
"SILENCE!"  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
"You shall be taken from here and placed in a waiting cell.  
In three hours, you shall be executed by removal of your heart  
crystal. Take her away."  
  
  
She watched as the fearful and panicking young girl was  
dragged away, through the door and away from her sight.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
She fingered through the report, marking down her judgement  
on the required forms.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
It had to be stopped.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Stopped, in Serenity's name.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
The name of the person she loved the most.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
And for that person...  
  
She became the butcher...  
  
She despised the most.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
Tick.  
  
Tock.  
  
  
  
=^.^= niya  
  
Sievert Anathea Dienar sievertd@start.com.au 


End file.
